Heart Sounds Tutorial to be demonstrated at the ACC

An online tutorial on cardiac sounds, developed through the first Young Investigator Award from the Duke Clinical Research Institute and Conceptis Technologies, offers trainees a chance to virtually experience the cardiac sounds of real bedside examinations. (American College of Cardiology 51st Annual Scientific Session.)

Young Investigator's Award recipient unveils tutorial at the ACC

ATLANTA, GA, MAR 18, 2002 - The Heart Sounds Tutorial, an online simulation of a cardiac physical examination, will be demonstrated throughout the American College of Cardiology 51st Annual Scientific Session. Developed by Dr Richard Wong, recipient of the first Young Investigators Award from the Duke Clinical Research Institute and Conceptis Technologies, this interactive educational tool reproduces the bedside examination of actual patients for diagnosis of cardiac auscultation. The demonstration will be available at the Duke University booth.

The interactive online tutorial reproduces a bedside examination by presenting video images with heart sounds recorded through a stethoscope. A medical trainee can observe the patient's precordium, neck veins, and carotid pulses for timing of events, while moving a virtual stethoscope to different listening areas.

Virtual diagnoses
The program provides explanations of the physical findings of each lesion, and also offers phonocardiograms, hemodynamic data, animations, and comparisons with a normal heart, or with conditions that produce similar findings, to sharpen the trainee's identification skills.
Wong used archives of cardiac lesions captured on audio and videotape to build his tutorial, and then supplemented the basic data with interactive animations and video presentations of each lesion.

The tutorial was designed to help fight the increasingly poor performance of medical students and postgraduate physicians in bedside cardiac examination, partially due to the fact that most training programs do not offer formal instruction in physical diagnosis.

Wong is the recipient of the first Young Investigator Award from the Duke Clinical Research Institute and Conceptis Technologies. The award was developed through the collaboration of Blaufuss Medical Multimedia, and Dr John Michael Criley of the Saint John's Cardiovascular Research Center at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

About Conceptis Technologies
Conceptis designs, builds and brings digital communities to life, combining rich content with cutting-edge technology and industry experience. Its online cardiology community, theheart.org, is the worlds most authoritative, comprehensive, and up-to-date online source of cardiology information. (www.conceptis.com)

About The Duke Clinical Research Institute
The Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI) is an academic research organization that for more than 17 years has combined the best of the academic environment with a customer-driven focus, to perform world-class clinical research and outcomes analysis for their clients. The DCRI is affiliated with Duke University Medical Center. (http://www.dcri.duke.edu)

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For more information:
Matthew Roe            
Duke Clinical Research             
(919) 668-8959               

Spencer Reese
Conceptis Technologies
(514) 931-5434